Cold Fusion: Hallows' Eve, Ch. 7 (part 1)

[dal_niente]

This is the chapter in which the angst factor skyrockets, and everybody freaks out a little, so I hope the emotions came through all right! And, as always, thank you all so much for reading.  I had to split this chapter into two parts, because it's too long to post on livejournal.

I still own nothing.  Everybody except the cops (c) to DreamWorks.


Chapter 7

The ride out of town is quiet.  It's still early on Sunday morning, so there are comparatively few vehicles on the road, and neither Megamind nor Roxanne is in the mood for music.

When Megamind skips the exit for the bay bridge, Roxanne blinks over at him.

"I have to see," is all he says.

The sky that morning is grey, but it's far from dark out.  The snow probably started falling late last night - it's deep enough to cover the grass, deep enough for a good amount of brown-grey slush in the road - and shows no signs of stopping.  It's a little early in the season for such weather, but this is Michigan and snow in November is not unusual.  The roads are clear.

When they reach the entrance to the long driveway up to Scott Mansion, it's crowded with police cars and serious-looking black vehicles with tinted windows.  Megamind pulls the invisible car up onto the curb across the street and gets out.  Roxanne, feeling numb and sick, follows.

They stare up at the ruin on the hilltop.  There's nothing salvageable; the once-proud manor home is now little more than a tangle of charred and blackened sticks.  Half of the south wall is standing, but barely.  Megamind tries to imagine being in the kind of fire that could turn a mansion into so much charcoal, then tries very hard not to.

He's saved by a familiar voice calling over to him.  "Hey, stranger."

Megamind starts and looks around, sees a dark-haired policeman trudging slowly over.  "Jones?" There are deep shadows under Jones' eyes, and his uniform is rumpled, and Megamind seriously doubts if the older man made it home last night.  Megamind raises an eyebrow.  "You need to get some sleep."

Jones snorts and shakes his head.  "No rest for the wicked, you know that."

Megamind looks up at the house.  "Do they know if it's arson?"

"They're still doing the sweep," Jones replies quietly.  "Gut feeling says no, but I've been wrong before."

"Not often."

Jones shrugs a grudging agreement.  "It happens, though.  Right now we're just questioning anyone who might've been in the area.  I heard the attendant at the Sunoco on seventy-third had a guy come in and get some gasoline, some matches and a pack of Camels."

"Could have just had a craving," Megamind murmurs.  "She remember what he looked like?"

Jones sighs.  "He had a lot of crazy hair and she thought maybe he wore glasses.  He was wearing some kind of cologne, cloves or something, I dunno.  Mace did the questioning; she said the girl wasn't sure."

Bernard, Megamind thinks, but he knows that's not fair.  There are tons of men in the city with funny hair and glasses, and he's sure that the stuffy museum curator has never worn cologne a day in his life.

Jones looks at Megamind, then glances at the reporter leaning on the lack of a car and staring up at the ruined mansion.  He blinks once, then frowns.  "Hey," he says quietly.  "You sure you two want to be out here?"

Megamind glances back at Roxanne.  The lie comes easily; he knows the news vans usually aren't winter-proofed until early November.  "The vans didn't have their snow chains on yet.  I offered to give her a lift."

Jones looks at him for a moment, guarded and tired, then hands him the de-gun.  He looks like he's aged five years over the past few hours.  "I'll mention that if anyone says something.  But you should go."

Megamind nods and opens the door of the car.  "I'll try to come by the station later today and talk to the guys you picked up last night.  Maybe the kidnapping and the fire were related."

"You'd have more luck at the hospital." The old policeman's face goes dark.  "All but two of the kidnappers died last night in their cells." Megamind's head snaps up.  "Initial inspection says suicide, but we'll know more when the autopsy comes in."

"What?" Megamind gasps, but the beat expression on Jones' face tells him the cop isn't joking.  Of all the things that Megamind might have expected, suicide had been the last thing - no, suicide hadn't even been on the list.  Confused thoughts tumble through his mind.  "Why - how?"

"We aren't sure.  We made the arrests, brought them into custody.  In the morning they were dead.  And the two that didn't - well, Mace got one through the lung last night, he's in the ICU now."

Megamind's eyes narrow.  "And the other one?"

Jones hesitates.  "Sundown got to him before we did."

"What about the one I dehydrated?" Megamind wants to know.  "The one who was guarding Maxence."

Jones blinks, and a flicker of surprise creeps onto his exhausted features.  "You dehydrated one of them?"

Megamind blinks back, then closes the car door and gives Jones a hard stare.  "When I went in ahead of you guys, yes," he says slowly.  "You should have found a blue cube on the floor.  Did you check the attic afterwards?"

Jones nods, frowning.  "The forensics team went over the whole building with a fine-toothed comb.  They didn't find any of your cubes."

Megamind is silent for a few seconds.  Then he says, "So that's nineteen dead, one wounded, and one missing.  Jones, I don't like this.  I don't like this at all."

The old officer nods heavily.  "Neither do I.  I'll keep you posted if we learn anything from the guy in the hospital."

Translation: this isn't your show, Megamind.  Stay out.  And as much as Megamind hates to admit it, Jones is right.  Scowling bleakly, Megamind wrenches the car door open.  "You better move quickly.  Talk to him before whoever killed the rest of them comes looking for him, too."

Jones watches him.  All Jones ever does is watch, showing none of what he's thinking on his face.  "You think it was murder?"

"No, I think nineteen guys committed suicide because of a failed kidnapping," Megamind snaps as Roxanne slides silently into the car beside him.  "Either way, are you willing to chance it?"

Jones nods once in silent acknowledgement, then turns and heads back to re-join the group slowly massing at the end of the driveway without another word.

"Didn't think so," Megamind mutters, and slams the door.  He stares out the windshield for a few seconds, then drops his head against the steering wheel.  "I don't believe this."

"You could help with the investigation," Roxanne says quietly, but Megamind shakes his head.

"No," he says firmly.  "It's not my business anymore.  This is police business.  I'm done here."

Roxanne looks at him, then down at her hands.  "That doesn't bother you?"

"Of course it bothers me," Megamind sighs, putting the car in gear and pulling away, "but facts are facts.  What can I do?"

Roxanne frowns.  "Good question.  What can you do?"

Megamind's answering grin is not friendly.  "That," he says, "is the real question.  I'll let you know when I come up with a satisfactory answer.  But I've got a lot on my plate for the next few months, so this is going to have to go to the back burner for now."

"Are you sure that's a good idea?" Roxanne pauses.  She doesn't really know all of what's been going on, but… "From what I've heard, you'd be able to get faster results."

Megamind shrugs and swings onto the exit ramp.  "If they've got Jones and Velasquez on the case, it'll move quickly enough without my help.  They're a competent team."

They're a competent team.  That's a sign of deep respect, and Roxanne knows it - Megamind regards very few people as truly competent.  It's why she had let him into her apartment when he had said she was the smartest person he knew.

"Wait, what are you doing for the next few months?"

"Bernard's mafia girlfriend," Megamind replies.  "I've been thinking about how to get her here without raising any red flags.  I've got a few ideas."

There's a brief pause.

"Can we please just go see Wayne now?" Roxanne asks, resting her head against the cold glass of the window and shutting her eyes.  "There's too much going on for me to think about."

Megamind sighs, and his shoulders drop a little.  "Yes, agreed," he murmurs.  "This is…this is too much, you're right, I'm not getting involved in this.  Roxanne, remind me not to get involved in this."

"If you get involved with this," Roxanne says dully, without opening her eyes, "you'll end up turning into a hero.  And you don't want that."

Megamind shudders.  "No.  No I don't.  Thank you."

Roxanne swallows.  "So, Drew and I have this running gag," she says, in a totally blatant attempt to change the subject, "that I have a secret lady-boner for a certain blue alien.  Your thoughts?"

Megamind chokes.  "Secret what?"

"His words, not mine."

Megamind's lips twitch.  "How long has this joke been going on?"

"About four years."

He turns and stares at her as best he can without going off the road.  "Why are you telling me this now?"

Roxanne sniffs and shifts a little in her seat.  "Well, two reasons.  One, because you sounded like you badly needed a distraction, and two, because I'm really not looking forward to telling Drew he's been right all these years." She frowns and rubs her nose.  "Clearly, the thing to do is break up with you so that I don't have to admit I was wrong."

Megamind laughs.  "Yes," he says, "clearly that is the thing to do."

"Oh good, you agree."

There's another pause, a longer one this time.

Finally Megamind breaks it.  "You are joking, though, right?" Roxanne sticks out her tongue and swats at him, and he laughs a little.  "Okay, okay! I was just making sure, jeez."

Roxanne looks out at the snowy banks of the bay.  They're on the bridge, now, and the grey waves are bright even through the snow.  But she doesn't close her eyes.  The whole scene feels surreal, somehow, as if she needs to keep looking at it to make sure it exists.  To make sure she exists.

She remembers a man with neat brown hair and a neat beard and expensive clothes that were always perfectly pressed.  Never a hair or a stitch out of place.  She remembers Christmas dinners for nearly six years running and a white smile that was totally at odds with the hard tone he used when on the phone with people from the office.

"Jeez," she echoes softly.

"…Yeah."

"I can't believe this is happening."

Megamind presses his lips together and shakes his head.

"I knew him," Roxanne hears herself saying.  The light on the water is suddenly blinding and she has to close her eyes against sudden tears.  "He was…he was nice.  I liked him.  He was sort of distant, but he told a lot of jokes.  He had a nice laugh.  He laughed a lot.  You know how he used to play catch with his son? Jai alai.  'Because baseball just doesn't cut it when your kid has super-speed and can fly,' he used to say."

"Sounds like some kind of advertisement for the sport," Megamind replies, but his voice is strained.

"Wayne hates boomerangs because they'd always come around and hit him in the back of the head," Roxanne continues in the same monotone voice.  "Lord Scott went to Australia a lot on business.  He wasn't around much when Wayne was growing up, and he always pushed Wayne really hard to succeed when he was home.  But he was nice.  There was this ridiculous apron he'd wear when he was helping Lady Scott in the kitchen at Thanksgiving…

"Thanksgiving," she says again, rubbing her eyes on the back of her hand.  "What are we going to do for Thanksgiving? It's only a few weeks away, I don't think Lady will be up for anything by then."

"If not, then we'll have Wayne over to the Lair," Megamind says flatly.  "But aren't you going to go visit your mom?"

Roxanne doesn't answer.

"Go visit your mother," Megamind tells her.  "She's your family.  And I know Drew misses you like crazy.  You should go."

Roxanne turns her head and looks over at him, trails the tips of her fingers lightly down his arm.  "Yeah," she finally whispers.  "But I don't want to leave you alone on Thanksgiving.  And will Minion be okay with…with Wayne?"

Megamind smiles.  "I bet Minion will suggest it all by himself.  Do you know if Wayne told his parents he was still alive?"

Roxanne frowns.  "I don't know.  It would have had to have been after the memorial service, if he did." She remembers Lord Scott's arm around his wife, his knuckles white on her shoulder, his brown eyes wide and dry and his smooth face suddenly lined with grief and age.  Lady Scott sobbing into a handkerchief that had looked like it had cost triple digits, somehow managing not to make any noise as she cries.

And then she thinks of another couple standing together, looking up at a bright blue dot as it grows smaller and smaller in the distant sky.  She looks over at Megamind, looks at how still he's sitting and how drawn his face is, and has to squeeze her eyes closed again.

She might not have much contact with her own father, but at least he's still alive.

0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0

Wayne is sitting in the middle of his couch with his head in his hands when Roxanne bursts through the steel door without knocking.  He nearly jumps out of his skin, and then he sees who it is and he says, hoarsely, "Roxanne.  Hey."

He sits back a little and moves his hands to his knees, and Roxanne flings herself into his chest without stopping to think, just bulls right into him and pulls herself fiercely against him, clinging tight.  After a moment, Wayne wraps one arm carefully around her.  Then he gives a shuddering sort of sigh and puts his other arm around her, just gives up and hugs her as tightly as he dares but not half as tightly as he wants.  He isn't allowed to cling.  He would crush her.  The only thing on Earth he can't crush is the pod he arrived in, and that's sitting out on the coffee table because screw being an adult and an ex-superhero, he needed to cling to something.

Megamind isn't really surprised to see it.

He is surprised to realize that he is not at all worried about Wayne losing control and squeezing Roxanne to death; he's just slightly discomfited by the sight of the invulnerable Metro Man crying silently into Roxanne's hair.  Unsure of what else to do, he claims the chair across from the sofa, puts his feet up on the low table next to the spacepod, and waits to be noticed.

It's obvious from the un-self-conscious way Wayne and Roxanne are holding each other just how long they've been friends and how close they used to be, and Megamind is loath to intrude.  He doesn't mind, really - it's just odd and slightly uncomfortable to look at.  This is the first time he has seen Roxanne do anything physically open without appearing to think about it first.  She had just bolted inside and gone straight to Wayne and folded him into a hug without waiting for him to speak, without greeting him, without even closing the door behind her.  Caught in the circle of his huge arms, she looks almost ridiculously tiny.

"Father's dead," Wayne says after a few long minutes tick by, his voice muffled by Roxanne's wool coat.

"I know," she replies, and holds him tighter.  "I'm so sorry."

"They don't know if Mom's gonna make it.  She was pretty badly burned."

"I know," Roxanne says again.

Wayne twists his hands in the back of her coat.  Seams burst.  Threads unravel.  He doesn't notice, and she doesn't care.  "I," he says hoarsely, and gulps, "I didn't save them.  I didn't even know."

That's the one Roxanne has been waiting for; Megamind can tell from the way she shifts and resettles herself, turning her hips sideways and kicking her boots off in a flurry of movement so that she doesn't have to kneel awkwardly on the edge of the sofa.  "Oh Wayne, it's not your fault you weren't watching the news.  It was like two in the morning.  You were probably asleep."

Wayne's shoulders hitch once.  Twice.  His voice, when he speaks, is uneven.  "My fault this place is soundproofed.  My fault I didn't install radio from the house to this place in case of emergency."

Megamind speaks for the first time.  "Well, if that's your rationale, it's my fault, too." Wayne's head shoots up, and Roxanne's ribs creak a little.  "I'm the one who's supposed to be prepared for every eventuality, remember?"

"You're here?" Wayne doesn't sound displeased - just shocked to find his blue nemesis lounging in a chair with his booted heels melting snow onto the polished surface of the coffee table.

"Of course I'm here, where else would I be?" Megamind searches desperately for something to lighten the mood, some remark he can make that will somehow make everything easier, if only for a few minutes.  His eyes move to the oddly-shaped bronze capsule near his feet, and he stretches a leg and taps a toe against it.  "I figure bringing you this set an unfortunate precedent, and, well…" He shifts a little bit, looking very uncomfortable, but he speaks as haughtily as he can.  "I figure it is down to me to look after you during your various…crises." He blinks slowly at Wayne, who is looking at him as if he's never seen him before, then slumps and shrugs a little.  "It's all I can do."

Wayne laughs damply, and Megamind is pretty sure they're both remembering a day in early December when they were both teenagers.  "Thanks, little buddy," he rasps.  "Good to know I can count on you."

Megamind shrugs again and fiddles with a loose thread on his cape.  "This wasn't your fault, you know."

Wayne just looks at him.

"No, really," Megamind insists, although he recognizes better than anyone the futility of arguing with someone who will not be convinced, "the inability to help - to even know that help is needed until it's too late - that's what makes humans human.  It's completely normal."

"But I'm not human." Wayne shakes his head and picks Roxanne up as easily and thoughtlessly as if she had been a doll and sets her on his shoulder so that he can lean forward and rest his elbows on his knees while he explains.  The movement is completely unconscious, completely natural - Roxanne catches Megamind's eye and shrugs, smiling apologetically.  Wayne doesn't notice.  "I don't have that inability.  I am perfectly capable of helping everyone in Metro City if they need it." He takes a deep breath, lets it out slowly.  "We are not born for ourselves alone.  I mean, I have a moral obligation to help, right?"

Megamind's eyes go hard and sharp, and he swings his feet down to the floor and sits up straight.  There's a roaring in his ears, and he suspects that now may not be the time, but he cannot let Wayne think that way.  "Are you serious? Non nobis solum nati sumus? Cicero?" His voice is sharper and higher than normal, and Wayne blinks at him, startled.  He hasn't seen Megamind's I'm-about-to-freak-out face in a long time, and it brings him up short.  "Are you seriously trying to pull Cicero? On me?" He hisses something under his breath and his expression turns downright ugly.  "D-do not even.  Don't even try.  I hate Cicero.  For that specific reason."

Wayne looks around, completely bewildered.  "What-I don't-"

"Moral obligations are horseshit," Megamind snarls, breathing hard through his nose, and Wayne's mouth falls open.  "I don't care what anyone says, they're a load of crap.  If you have a moral obligation to help Metro City, then, then wouldn't you also have a moral obligation to help everyone, everywhere in the world, just because you can?" He licks his lips.  His hands flutter in the air in front of him, sketching trembling half-gestures, most of which resemble strangling motions.  He's more agitated than Wayne has seen him in years.  "And wouldn't I have a moral obligation to…to…to hand over all of my inventions and discoveries to science? Or even to…to, I don't know, hand myself back over to science?"

"Megamind," Roxanne says, very quietly, and Wayne is suddenly and uncomfortably aware that she's sitting on his shoulder.  And that he had put her there in full view of her boyfriend, who until fairly recently had been under the impression that she and Wayne had been more than friends - the little blue man hasn't said anything about that, but maybe that's part of why he's gone all flaily and screechy? Oops.  He picks her up again and puts her gently down on the sofa a safe distance away.

Megamind utters a sharp, shaky laugh, and makes a cutting motion in the air with one hand and makes no mention of Roxanne or her new proximity to Wayne.  "Heck with that," he says shakily, "that ship has sailed.  Cicero was simple-minded and idealistic and there's just no point." And he full-body shudders, spasming so hard he nearly falls off the chair.

Wayne blinks and cocks his head.  "I don't think I've ever seen you reduced to incoherent babbling before," he marvels.  "You really don't like Cicero, huh?"

Megamind rakes his hands down his face, grimacing and rolling his eyes back as he does so.  "I hate Cicero so much," he moans.  Then he snaps back to sobriety, aims a finger like a gun at Wayne's chest.  "So don't you ever try to argue moral obligations with me again.  I won't have it."

"I have no idea what either of you is talking about," Roxanne announces, and Wayne actually laughs a little.

"I said something, and he freaked out," he says, "that's all I know."

Megamind pulls a face.  "You quoted Cicero at me.  You were going to say something like 'I can do this, therefore I must do this,' and that's just complete and utter crap, c'mon."

"But people will die if I don't," Wayne reminds him.

"That doesn't mean you have to help them," Megamind argues.

"That doesn't mean they died because of you," Roxanne says, and Megamind brightens and points at her.

"Yes! Thank you," he exclaims, because that, that is an argument that might actually work.  "Look at it this way, what do you owe the city?"

"What do you?" Wayne shoots back.  "You owe them even less than I do, but you still help them! You're their hero, now, never mind that they-" He pauses, looking uncomfortable, then mutters something that rhymes with bucket and bulls ahead, "Never mind that we treated you like trash!"

It's the closest Wayne has ever come to apologizing, and Megamind pulls back a little bit and blinks at him, thin lips quirking into a surprised half-smile for a split second before his face switches expressions as rapidly as it always does and goes back to stubborn and argumentative.

"Ah, no - I fixed the damage I caused.  Jury's still out on whether that makes me a hero or just repentant.  But you were a hero for thirteen years for no reason other than that you wanted to be.  And why? For what? The only way you can get any peace and quiet anymore is to hide in a sound-proofed underground fortress with the lights off!"

Wayne opens his mouth, then closes it again.  Megamind has a point.

And Megamind sees that he's winning and grabs opportunity in a stranglehold.  He scoots forward in his chair and pulls his feet up to the edge of the cushion, long legs bent double so that he can lean between his knees like an excited blue frog.  "Okay, okay, think about this one.  You like Cicero.  Or you would if you'd read him - have you read him? No, no, don't tell me, I don't actually care.  Prima enim sequentem honestum est in secundis tertiisque consistere."

"Honey, we don't speak Latin," Roxanne says flatly.  "Stop showing off."

Wayne snorts, but Megamind shrugs and nods at her.  "Fair enough.  Sorry.  What it means is that if you aspire to the highest place, there's no dishonor in stopping at the second or third." Wayne starts to speak, but Megamind talks loudly over him and starts ticking his fingers again.  "Prior to retirement, you saved seven thousand, eight hundred and sixty-four lives.  You directly averted nine hundred and seventy-two crimes, solved eighty-six, and if my calculations are correct - and they are, because my calculations are always correct, thank you very much - you indirectly prevented an estimated two thousand more.  The highest place would be to save all lives and avert all crimes, but that is physically impossible even for you.  Don't give me that look; I know how your super-speed works and I've done those calculations as well." Megamind leans forward and looks him in the eye.  "You have done your duty to these people."

Wayne goggles at him.  "You counted?"

Megamind cannot help but look a little bit smug as he settles back in his chair and stretches out again.  "I kept a running tally.  Does that qualify?"

Wayne has to grin a little bit.  "I guess so," he says.  "I can't believe you counted.  That's just unbelievably…I don't even know.  Seven thousand?"

Megamind grins back.  "Well, I can't depend on you to keep an accurate record, can I? Seven thousand, eight hundred and sixty-four.  Round up to eight thousand, if you must.  Or seventy-nine hundred if you want to be really accurate.  "

Wayne just shakes his head.  "You're insane."

Megamind lifts his chin, looks down his nose at the ex-hero.  "I am not insane," he says.  "I am wickedly, deviously intelligent."

Roxanne raises her hand, and Megamind looks at her.

"Can I ask a question?" She's been watching the exchange between Megamind and Wayne with some fascination - this is the first time she knows of that they've spoken in an informal setting where there aren't any ulterior motives.  Megamind looks like he's uncomfortable and trying not to show it, and Wayne just looks confused.

When Wayne turns and blinks at her as well, Roxanne points at the fat gold rocketship on the coffee table.  "What is that? And why did finding it set a precedent?"

She knows by the panicked expression that creeps onto Megamind's face that she might have asked the wrong thing, but Wayne actually snorts and shakes his head.

"When I was sixteen," he says, clearing his throat a bit, and maybe Megamind's desperate attempt to use philosophy did work because he isn't talking about fault anymore and his voice is stronger, "Mom told me where she and Father found me.  In a space pod under their Christmas tree.  She threw away the pod with the wrapping paper before she realized what it was."

"Bit of an airhead, your mother," Megamind remarks, his long fingers still tugging restlessly on the loose thread.  "Nice woman, but not too bright."

Wayne shrugs and actually grins a little bit.  "I had…a little bit of an identity crisis," he tells Roxanne, "and I thought…I don't actually know what I was thinking."

"Neither do I," Megamind grouses.  "I still don't know what you were thinking.  Do you know how annoying that is?"

"Something like, you know, we're both aliens, so I thought maybe you'd…I dunno."

"What? Understand?" Megamind looks like he might be trying not to laugh.

Wayne groans.  "It was dumb, I know."

Megamind starts to make another sarcastic remark, then pauses.  "Well," he says, more quietly than he'd meant to.  "Not so dumb.  I guess."

Wayne half-smiles.  "I remember you were pissed off."

"I was pissed off a lot in those days."

"You were," Wayne agrees.  To Megamind's astonishment, he sounds almost nostalgic.  "But you found my pod."

"I did." Megamind doesn't particularly like this vein of conversation.  He's been a villain all his life as far as anyone knows, but he's played up the evil persona especially in front of Metro Man, and old habits die hard.  The topic does seem to be helping, though.

"And now you're…" Wayne shakes his head slowly, then frowns and rubs at his beard as his expression turns suddenly guarded.  "You're here."

Megamind studies him for a moment, notes the way Wayne is watching him, the way tension has suddenly gathered in the big man's shoulders and neck.  Wayne looks…really suspicious, actually.

And then the brief conversation in the car comes flooding back - Wayne hasn't told anyone he's still alive.  Megamind hasn't given that much thought.

He's surprised for a moment, and then he thinks that maybe he shouldn't be.  Who would Wayne tell? There was Roxanne, but she might have gone to the press.  Is there anyone else? Megamind wonders.  He had used to monitor Wayne's interactions when they had been younger, tried to find a weakness, but there had been nothing.  All of his socializing had been totally superficial.  The people Megamind had thought were Metro Dude's friends had really only been followers.

Wayne had faked his death and told nobody because there had been nobody to tell.  If Megamind had faked his death, he knows he would at least have told Minion.

Good lord, he realizes, with an awful sort of start.  You're even lonelier than I am.

"You're thinking at me," Wayne says suddenly, and Megamind jumps.  "You're doing that thing again.  Where you sit there and think at me."

Megamind huffs a little and points at his cranium.  "It's big," he says, "for a reason.  You do realize that, right?"

"I'm not a total idiot."

"Pfff," Megamind says, waving a hand at him in a vain attempt to lighten the mood.  Wayne is definitely going on the defensive, and it's making Megamind very nervous.  "Yes, you are."

"I'm still right," Wayne insists, his eyes narrowing a little.  He's learned to be wary of Megamind when the blue genius gets a certain look on his face, and that certain look had been all over his face just a few seconds ago.  "What is it?"

"What's what?"

Wayne snorts.  "What face is that? Is that supposed to be innocent?"

Megamind looks outraged.  "It's not working? Still?"

"You look sick, dear," Roxanne tells him.

And that's when Wayne startles them both with, "Look, what do you want?" in a surprisingly sharp tone of voice.

Megamind blinks.  "What?"

"If you are going for innocent, something's up," Wayne states flatly, and sits forward, bracing his hands on the cushions and meeting Megamind's bewildered gaze with a steady one of his own.

Oh crap on a cracker, Megamind thinks, and edges back in his chair.  He's not defensive anymore, he's aggressive.  Great.

He had forgotten, briefly, that Wayne is emotionally vulnerable at the moment - emotionally vulnerable, and unable to understand why the creature who had been his most hated enemy would ever bother caring whether his father lived or died.  Judging by the way Wayne is looking at him - as if he's getting ready to jump - he's expecting Megamind to have something up his sleeve.  It's not a totally unreasonable assumption.  Megamind has only been to Wayne's hideout twice before; once to ask him to go out of hiding and the other to rant at him for a while and pretend to ask his advice.  Both times, he's had an ulterior motive.  Megamind has almost always had an ulterior motive for talking to Wayne.

Megamind thinks desperately, trying to figure out a way to explain to Wayne exactly where they stand with one another and still maintain his dignity.

"Hey.  I asked you a question," Wayne says when Megamind shows no sign that he's going to respond.  "What do you want? You…want me to go public? Is that it?"

Megamind blinks again, blindsided.  Where had that come from?

"Oh don't look so surprised," Wayne snaps, and even he is surprised at how bitter he sounds.  "You want to…to guilt me into putting the cape back on, right? Admit that I was never dead? Wait 'til I've let my guard down, then come in here and help me see the light?"

"Wayne," Roxanne protests, because Megamind is just staring at him with his mouth open and his eyes huge, and Wayne jumps and looks over at her.  He had actually forgotten she was there.  Then he realizes another, more probable scenario.

"Oh, no, wait, I get it now." Wayne shakes his head, vastly disappointed and vastly angry.  "You just…want to make sure nothing happens between Roxie and me, huh? That's great, that's real nice.  She's a grown woman, she doesn't need a chaperone!"

"Hey, now," Roxanne begins, but Wayne ignores her, glares at Megamind.

"What, she's not allowed to have her own friends now? You're a real -"

And Megamind loses his temper.

"I am here because I am worried about you, you dumb jock!" He forgets whatever response he had been working on; Wayne has just crossed a big line.  "Jeezy Kreezy, and I thought I had issues," Megamind snarls, his lip curling as he glares right back at Wayne.  "Didn't I just tell you that you didn't owe the city a thing anymore? Didn't I just say that? Were you not listening? Because I thought I was pretty clear about it."

Uncertainty creeps into Wayne's livid expression, and he falters.  "You…I…what?"

"And if you think - do you really think - that I would - that I would ever come here, to you, at this of all times, to try to extort favors from you?" Megamind's voice rises sharply and his face contorts into a mask of horrified, offended disgust.  "Really, Wayne? Really? Me? Would I ever ever ever try to take advantage of someone mourning his family? Is that, is that honestly what you think of me?"

Megamind's voice echoes out of Wayne's memory - "I remember everyone screaming, and I remember sirens blaring.  And yes, I remember my parents."

Wayne's mouth opens, but no sound comes out.  The injured expression lingers on Megamind's face for a moment, and then switches back to one of affronted wrath.

"Oh, and another thing," he adds viciously.  "Roxanne can do what she wants.  I trust her.  I trust her with my life.  I would never try to control her like that.  And you do her a great disservice by doubting even for a second that if I ever tried, she would be off like a shot.  You know her better than that.  I thought you knew me better than that, too, but," he lets out a short, bitter laugh, "I guess I can't be right all the time, can I."

"Wayne, did you really think we came here to make you do something?" Roxanne asks quietly.

Wayne glances at her, then stares back at Megamind again, stammering.  "Well - not, not you, I…but he, I don't…"

"No, it's okay, it's cool," Megamind snaps.  "You just go on thinking I'm an insensitive prick, that's fine."

Wayne flushes.  "I don't think you're an insensitive prick," he mutters.

"Wow, really?" Megamind's eyes widen in mock surprise.  "Because that sure is what it sounded like to me.  No, shut up," he adds sharply when Wayne opens his mouth, "you've got me started, now, and you're going to hear me out because if I do not say this right now I never will.  Okay.  Okay.  The way I see it, since you asked so nicely, you and I are stuck with each other."

He starts ticking things off on his fingers without waiting for Wayne to reply.  "We fled a black hole together, we crash-landed at the same time, we grew up together, you have been a thorn in my side from the time that I was eight days old and I flatter myself that I have been a similar thorn in yours." When Wayne nods, mystified, Megamind continues.  "Those metaphorical thorns are from the same metaphorical tree.  Neither of us would be who he is today without the other.  We gave each other purpose.  Yes?" He raises his eyebrows and looks at Wayne as if daring him to argue.

"Well, sure, yeah, but…"

"As far as I'm concerned, that makes us - well.  That.  That makes us family." Megamind's ears slowly start to turn pink, and he manages, if possible, to look even angrier.  "I may not like you, Wayne Scott, and you may not like me, but I think we understand one another and we certainly can't get rid of each other.  And what's more-" He breaks off suddenly, bites his lip, then forges furiously ahead.  "What's more, we wouldn't even if we could.  So, yes." He glowers at Wayne, defiant and fidgeting.  "Yes, I am here.  Not because I particularly enjoy your company, but because I think that if I were in your shoes - if I had just lost Minion - you would be in the Lair.

"There, you were right," he finishes scathingly, and sits back in the chair and clenches his arms over his chest.  "I was thinking."

And Wayne can only stare at him.  He knows what that kind of admission must have cost Megamind, who wears his pride like armor and his attitude like a shield.

And then he realizes just how badly his desperate accusations must have hurt the other alien, and he slumps forward and scrubs a hand down over his face.  "I'm…dammit, Blue, I am an idiot," he groans, and prepares for Megamind's sharp voice to give him another upbraiding.

There's a long silence, and then Megamind says, "Yeah, you are.  But…" He heaves a tired sigh, and mutters the next bit under his breath.  "You're also the closest thing to a brother I'm ever likely to have."

Wayne looks up, stunned speechless.  He has always thought of Megamind as a child, enthusiastic and immature, but now Megamind's smooth face is lined with a combination of embarrassment and hidden grief, and Wayne realizes that Megamind is actually probably older than he is, emotionally speaking, and has been for a very long time.

"It gets easier, you know," Megamind says.  "It takes time, but it does get easier.  Losing someone this way isn't…it isn't easy.  You're in shock.  You're in shock and you have your own issues to deal with, and as long as we're all claiming to be stupid, I should add that I am spectacularly unobservant for not understanding that before.  And I'm sorry.  For yelling.  You didn't need that.  You didn't deserve that."

He slouches back in his chair, crosses his legs, and steeples his fingers.  "I don't really care if you believe any of what I just said," he begins, looking completely blasé about the whole thing, and Wayne laughs in his face.  Really laughs.  He can't help it.  Megamind just stops talking and blinks at him, nonplussed.

"You," Wayne manages, "are such a liar.  You freak out all over the place and then pretend everything's fine, it's all good? You are such a liar."

Megamind blinks again, then cracks a weak smile.  "Yeah.  A bit."

Wayne's shocked laughter subsides as quickly as it had started, and he shakes his head and sighs.  "…God.  I am a wreck.  I'm sorry, no, that was my fault.  You shouldn't have to deal with me like this."

"Shut it.  We're not leaving." Megamind tilts his head and tries for a change of subject.  "Hey, have you had breakfast?"

Wayne shakes his head again.  "Turned on the news before I even got coffee," he says.  "And then I…kind of got distracted."

Megamind looks amazed, and just a little disturbed.  "You haven't even had coffee yet?" He gets to his feet, scowling.  "I'm making coffee.  Where's the kitchen?"

"I don't have a coffee maker."

"What?" Megamind throws his hands into the air.  "All right, that's it.  I lied.  I'm leaving, and I'm bringing back coffee, and I'm bringing back breakfast.  Actually, no, on second thought, you're coming, too.  You need some air."

Wayne exhales slowly and looks up at him.  "No."

Megamind pauses.  "No?"

"No.  Sorry, little buddy." Wayne shrugs and rests his forehead in one massive palm, his eyes sliding closed.  "I really do not want to go anywhere."

Megamind stands and looks at him for a moment, then surprises everyone by leaning over the table and putting his hand, very lightly and just for the space of a breath, on the back of Wayne's head.

"Okay, sad panda," he says.  "You stay.  I'll go get food." He glances at Roxanne, raises his eyebrows in a silent question, and she nods.

Good.  He turns around and heads out the door without another word.  Roxanne's voice follows him out the door: "Wayne, you look awful, how late were you up last night?"

Back to Chapter 6
Top of the Page
Chapter 7: Part 2